Once the Church of God Awaiting dominated all the kingdoms of Safehold. Then, after centuries of stasis, the island kingdom of Charis began to defy the edicts of Mother Church---egged on, some say, by the mysterious warrior-monk Merlin Athrawes, who comes and goes as he pleases and enjoys the Charisian royal family's absolute trust. What vanishing few people know is that Merlin is the cybernetic avatar of a young woman a thousand years dead, felled in the war in which aliens detroyed Earth...and that since awakening, his task has been to restart the history of the long-hidden human race. Now, in the wars and intrigues that have cascaded from Charis's declaration of independence, the populous Republic of Siddarmark is sliding into chaos. Vicar Clyntahn of the Church of God Awaiting has engineered a rebellion against the Lord Protector---and in its wake, civil war stalks the nation at harvest time. King Cayleb of Charis, his queen Sharleyan, and their confidante Merlin Athrawes will have their hands full trying to stave off wholesale starvation in Siddarmark while at the same time shipping in enough land combat units to fend off the "volunteers" Clyntahn is mustering from the Church's Temple Lands. And while Vicar Clyntahn is hailed in the Church for his boldness and audacity, there are those who remember how dependent Church power is on money from Siddarmark...and who wonder what will happen if Siddarmark starves. Bursting with vivid invention and the sweep of lived history, Midst Toil and Tribulation continues one of the great SF epics of our time.